How Involved Should I Be With These Games?

September 8, 2010
by

Quick Disclaimer: I (MAN) did not write this article. It was written in its entirety by my good friend D.P. Schafer. I only added the incredibly stock picture.

Total immersion, man. That’s where we’re headed, like it or not, and that’s always been the case in entertainment because many of us are looking to get the hell out of our lives, much too boring or too damned exciting for us to endure 24 hrs a day, 7 days a week, right? It’s an escape. And some of us have chosen video games, a far more engaging, more imaginative, and more complex alternative to movies or books. Did I just say that? Yes, and I meant it.

Anyone who’d argue otherwise would do well to set aside their bias and give video games a good, hard look. At worst, video games are mind-numbingly dull, foster and encourage racial and sexual stereotypes, are so flawed in design they fail to entertain, limiting your participation, or testing your patience with absurd or confusing gameplay. Yet, many of us will continue playing them anyway. Films or novels have the same problem, except video games encourage thought and action. How noble!

Watching a movie is simple, most of the time lazy. No matter how thought-provoking a film may be, I can sit back and allow the film to roll. Sure, I’ve got to interpret information, but we do that with everything else too, and quite naturally. Nothing else is required of you. But try playing a game without pressing a button.

Books require puzzling letters together into words, words into sentences, and the combining of these ideas into images in our mind. It’s a bit better than film, but we cannot alter the outcome of the book implementing solutions of our own, explore what’s been presented to us within the context of the story using those characters, that world, or any of its particular stipulations. Our musing must be set aside in favor of the author’s own, and when we’ve finished a book, it remains the same story, unlike video games, which change in accordance with our whims and desires. Yes, yes, to a degree, certainly. But the experience is far more malleable than you will find in even the thickest “Choose Your Own Adventure” book, which for the record, are pretty thin books, dear readers. And yet, a game disc is even thinner.

Now, I don’t need to tell you this. You’re very intelligent. In fact, you’ve intuitively chosen video games for many of the reasons I’ve just made clear. However, video games are still in the infancy of their development, much like films–accept that games evolve faster. From barely distinguishable pixels to lifelike 3D images in less than 30 years, zippiddy-damn! Games move very fast indeed. The single player experience has expanded to a massive multiplayer universe, in which denizens shape and govern the landscapes of entire fantasy worlds. Buttons are being replaced by motion-sensing technology, keyboards by headsets and voice activation, cords are gone, cartridges have disappeared–even discs are vanishing! We download games like music now, and that will continue, surely. Nevertheless, it is the content of the games to which we need devote our concern. Content is always king. And like most of our video game experiences, it is something we still control when we choose to support the direction games go with our hard-earned dollah billz…

Back to total immersion though. What’s the future? Will the screen be replaced by something projecting images into our own environment, similar to 3D, but complete with sensory-reading devices that map our movements and expressions in realtime? We’re already there, bud. Only, how willing are we to submerge ourselves in the fantasy worlds of our avatars? Games have the potential to rise beyond sound and vision, but would we accept pain? A carefully administered shock, perhaps? Or a stimulating dose of precisely dispensed pleasure? A rumble pack seems so primitive in comparison; and yet, it was lauded by many for being a real advancement in the near vacuous arena of game immersion. That tiny jolt (albeit not an electrical one) led many developers to previously unexplored avenues of gameplay, some more successful than others. As players, we must decide how much immersion we want in our games. Would I enjoy swinging the sword myself or prefer just muttering the word, “slash,” and seeing it done? Of course, there is room for both. Our game machines are not limited by voice activation–they are now capable of reading the expression on our faces rather than merely the wide, arcing motions of our arms.

Hey, wait a minute. Does this freedom come with a cost to our privacy? I mean, we’re used to freedoms being stripped away “for our protection,” but not the other way around. How’s that work?

Consider this: a new game uses satellite technology similar to “Google Earth” in order to map the contemporary environment of your city. In the game, you’re able to trudge through your own neighborhood, visit local businesses, even storm through the individual rooms of your own house. Maybe we use a lot of our personal information to create a very realistic character for ourselves in a spy game that takes place all over the world, with players from all different countries. See where this is going? Go on then, apply this idea to a game like Grand Theft Auto. How many will “Colombine” their school in this game? Creep through the home of a certain girl or boy they know? Vandalize a house or business out of racial malice? It could get a bit controversial, to say the least; and still, it hinges on the moral fiber of the individual, as always, just like life itself.

We choose our behaviors. But should good and evil but weighed within the context of fantasy? We’re not really committing any crimes. Does this kind of game create a healthy outlet for pent up aggression or anti-social behavior? Could that even be considered healthy, or does it fuel hate? Is it okay to have these attitudes so long as we don’t act on them outside of our game? This is a pretty common problem with various entertainment industries (notably, pornography), but I feel as though games will be especially scrutinized, perhaps deservedly so. They are our most developed form of entertainment, and fastest growing.

Games will no longer be about which ones we choose to play, but how we choose to play them. And I’m not talking about a six-pack of beers and a pizza. I’m talking about scruples. Scruples while you’re sitting on the sofa, or standing in front of a television (of some sort) trying to get your kicks. Now, is that fair? Who gives you the right to tell me how the hell to play my game?

Well, no one except the people designing that game, because someone will sure as shit impose themselves upon these developers. You and I know that because we live with censorship each day. What we don’t know is how these types of games will be censored, because they have yet to arrive. But they’re damned near, my friends. So near you can smell them. Yes, these new games have an olfactory-sensory device as well. That’s not the point.

The point, I think, is to submerse ourselves in the culture of gaming. To support a healthy video game atmosphere affording everyone the equal opportunity to play a game they find enjoyable, while ensuring that no gets hurt (in any measurable way) UNLESS they are okay with being hurt. To clarify: Fantasies are born in our minds, composed of our own private thoughts. That is how others are shielded from them. We should protect our games the same way. Whatever we do in them is private unless someone agrees to play with us, but only after understanding what the game is all about. That may mean a more strictly enforced ratings system is in order. That may mean better parenting is in order. Hopefully it means both. Total immersion is about you. Are you willing to go all the way in helping to make games great? If so, I hope you’ll imagine a playground where everyone can play, as dangerous or safe a game as they choose, and pass that vision along to others. We are a gaming community now. We should kinda act like one.

–dp

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